WW2 plane built at Yeadon returns to Yorkshire
BBCA vintage plane built in the 1940s at Yeadon has landed at Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to celebrate the site's aviation history.
The Gentle Annie (MH120), an Avro Anson MK1, was built at the Arvo factory in 1943 during World War Two and is the only airworthy model of its kind left.
Owner and pilot Richard Santos said he preferred flying the vintage aircraft to the commercial jets he usually flies "because it's real flying" and "there's no autopilot and no displays".
The landing at LBA was the first event of a three-day celebration of the plane taking place at Breighton Airfield in East Yorkshire.
Lord Mayor of Leeds Stephen Holroyd said seeing the plane land was an "amazing experience" and it had been "such a privilege" to welcome it home.
"We have such a rich aviation heritage at the airport," he said.
"It's thanks to the people here today who have brought this plane back who should be commended."
The relatives of those who had worked at the factory also attended the event.
Nigel Berry, from the Bring Annie Home project, said his dad had the "crazy idea to bring Annie home after 83 years".
"I didn't think it would happen, I thought it was a wild dream, and I got a phone call one day saying, 'she's coming home and the captain had agreed'."
He said it had involved nine months of planning, but the moment he saw the plane over the airport it felt "absolutely brilliant".
"Nine months of planning, hard work. It's been a long, long, long nine months."
He said his wife, Claire, who died earlier this week, was a large part of the campaign and "would have loved it".
"She did probably 90% of all of this for us, so yeah, this is for her," he said.
Charles Johnson, head of planning and development at LBA, said the site was "steeped in history".
He said the airport at Yeadon was part of Yorkshire's "rich aviation history", dating back to WW2, when RAF Squadron 609 and the Avro factory were based there.
Construction began on the factory in 1939 as part of attempts to increase the production of aircraft and it closed in 1946 and is now part of the LBA Industrial Estate.
"You've got to look at the quality of the aircraft they produced too," Johnson said.
"They produced Lancasters and Lincolns, the heavy bombers that came out of here, the Atherton, obviously the York, reconnaissance planes, transport planes, they were all tested here in the first instance."
The Avro Anson MK1 was largely used to train bomber crews during WW2.
After its service, this model found a new home in the Czech Republic, where it has been maintained by RAF Station Czechoslovakia.
Pilot and owner Richard Santos said the plane was called a Gentle Annie because she "flies by herself with the pilot there just to support things".
"I'm a commercial pilot myself so I can imagine what [the other pilots] feel like [seeing the plane]," he said.
"So, I try to be really cautious about the surrounding traffic and so hopefully are they."
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